Medical services

ACGME Accredited Fellowship in Blood Banking / Transfusion Medicine

Introduction

The NHLBI has identified the training of blood center medical directors as an important need. Bloodworks Northwest, in which service, management, research, and teaching have been developed together in an integrated manner for over 50 years provides an excellent environment for such training.

3. administrative and business management of a transfusion service and regional blood center.

Experienced transfusion, transplantation, and hemostasis personnel supervise the trainee. The fellow is expected to attain a level of competence and understanding that will prepare him or her to function as medical director, clinical consultant, and educator.

Eligibility

Prior to appointment in the program, fellows must have one of the following successful completion of at least two years of a pathology residency program accredited by the ACGME or of a program located in Canada and accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC); certification by the ABP in anatomic pathology and clinical pathology, or in clinical pathology; or completion of an ACGME-accredited fellowship in hematology or an ACGME-accredited residency, and certification by a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) in one of the following: anesthesiology, colon and rectal surgery, internal medicine, neurological surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopaedic surgery, pediatrics, plastic surgery, thoracic surgery.

Training Environment

The following are part of the training environment of the Bloodworks Northwest.

All the clinical laboratories, blood collection & processing areas, and research facilities at Bloodworks Northwest.

Cardiovascular Surgery Units at University of Washington Medical Center, and Swedish Medical Center.

Professional staff

The professional staff of the Blood Center consists of ten physicians, hematologists or clinical pathologists, who are faculty members in the Division of Hematology or the Department of Laboratory Medicine of the University of Washington School of Medicine. A physician is on call 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, for support of transfusion medicine and blood center issues. Additionally, a core team of nurses and physicians support adult hemophilia patients in Western Washington.

The Research Institute houses nine additional senior scientists involved in basic and translational research, the focus of which is transfusion biology and hemostasis/thrombosis, as well as solid organ transplantation.

Program outline

The fellowship program consists of one year of specific training as directed by the American College of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). At the conclusion of this year, the fellow should be eligible to sit for the Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine subspecialty board exam administered through the the American Board of Pathology (ABP).. An additional year of research with a Blood Center investigator is possible, but may be subject to funding availability.

The program is divided into 2 overall components, with approximately 6 months in clinical laboratory and Blood Services areas, and 6 months in area hospitals that allow the fellow to gain exposure to the care (including transfusion support) of various patient populations.

Clinical laboratory and service areas include:

Several transfusion service laboratories

A large centralized mobile therapeutic apheresis service

Coagulation laboratories in 2 institutions

Immunogenetics laboratories

Platelet immunology laboratory

Immunohematology and red cell genomics laboratories

Cellular therapy laboratory

Collection of donors for the National Marrow Donor Program

Adult Hemophilia clinic

Time in area hospitals includes rotations in a level 1 trauma center, a specialized pediatric hospital, a large University hospital, and several community hospitals within King County.

The fellow will participate actively in an on-call schedule for transfusion medicine issues and for therapeutic apheresis patients. The on-call for hemophilia patients is not typically part of the fellow duties.

The program is structured to encourage graded responsibility for the fellow, and the achievement of independent thinking by the end of the first year. Milestones developed by the ACGME are followed and used as part of the assessment of the fellow bi-annually. Additionally, the fellow is required to participate in the Program Evaluation committee, as specified by the ACGME.

Research opportunities

Specific research areas in Transfusion Medicine include:

Donor retention studies

Massive transfusion

Blood component use during liver transplantation and cardiac bypass surgery

Platelet immunology and serology

Platelet storage

Prevention and treatment of platelet alloimmunization

Molecular biology of hemophilia A and B

Gene therapy for hemophilia

Red cell immunology and serology

Immunomodulatory properties of stored blood

novel therapies for the treatment of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

Specific research areas in Transplantation Medicine include:

Clinical and animal models of induction and maintenance of graft tolerance

Identification of endothelial cell antigens that are targets of immunological rejection

Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

Stem cell biology including in vitro expansion, differentiation, and induction

Tissue biomechanics and cryopreservation

Molecular analysis of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC)

Evolutionary analysis of MHC

Effect of MHC on transplantation and disease susceptibility

Requirements for applicants

Must have certification by a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) in one of the following: anesthesiology, colon and rectal surgery, internal medicine, neurological surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopaedic surgery, pediatrics, plastic surgery, or thoracic surgery.

Must be eligible for a limited Washington State medical license

Application

The next available appointments will be for academic year 2019-2020. The application window for these appointments will open August 1, 2017. Please send the following to:

For more information about the Bloodworks Northwest Fellowship Training in Transfusion Medicine, contact Theresa Nester, MD at TheresaN@bloodworksnw.org or the program coordinator, Tony White at (206) 689-6523 or TonyW@BloodworksNW.org.